What do we know about tobacco use among Indigenous people?

What harms are associated with tobacco use?

Smoking tobacco is a major cause of:

• heart disease
• stroke
• some cancers
• lung disease
• a variety of other health conditions [1].

Passive smoking (breathing in another person's tobacco smoke) also contributes to poor health, particularly for children [1].

What do we know about tobacco use among Indigenous people?

The proportion of Indigenous adults who smoke declined slightly between 1994 and 2008 (from 51% to 47%), but smoking was still more than twice as common among Indigenous adults than among non-Indigenous adults in 2008 [2]. There has been a reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked daily by Indigenous people between 1994 and 2008 [3]. According to the 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, two-out-of-three Indigenous current daily smokers had tried to quit in the previous year [4].

In 2008, around one-in-six Indigenous children 0-3 years and one-quarter of Indigenous children 4-14 years lived with someone who usually smoked inside the house [5][6]. Around one-quarter of Indigenous adults were living with someone who usually smoked inside the house [4].

Tobacco use was responsible for one-in-five deaths among Indigenous people in 2003 [7].

References

1. Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (2011) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health performance framework: 2010 report. Canberra: Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Department of Health and Ageing
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social survey, 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2011 from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4714.0?OpenDocument
3. Thomas DP (2012) Changes in smoking intensity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 1994–2008. Medical Journal of Australia; 197(9): 503-506
4. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010) The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Oct 2010. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics
5. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social survey, 2008; Table 09. Indigenous children aged 0-3 years, by state or territory of usual residence [data cube]. Retrieved from http://abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/SUBSCRIBER.NSF/log?openagent&47140do009_2008.xls&4714.0&Data%20Cubes&CAAA9C3AC720772ACA25765E001541A1&0&2008&30.10.2009&Previous
6. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2010) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social survey, 2008: Table 11. Indigenous children aged 4-14 years, by sex [data cube]. Retrieved 21 April 2010 from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/SUBSCRIBER.NSF/log?openagent&4714.0_aust_011_2008.xls&4714.0&Data%20Cubes&F3D13C41FD47C376CA25770B0016F79E&0&2008&21.04.2010&Previous
7. Vos T, Barker B, Stanley L, Lopez A (2007) Burden of disease and injury in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: 2003. Brisbane: Centre for Burden of Disease and Cost-Effectiveness: School of Population Health, University of Queensland